By the time Christ reached the cross, local authorities despised him. His friends had deserted him. Previously adoring crowds rejected him. Soldiers played dress-up with him, brutalized him, then knelt at his feet in mock worship. Even the louts hanging on the neighbouring crosses ridiculed him. As if that weren’t enough, Mark notes that, “People walking by insulted him (v 29).” That last bit brings me to a full stop.